"Don't delay" call for PNG seabed mining project | Pacific Beat

"Don't delay" call for PNG seabed mining project

A former planning minister is calling on the PNG government not to delay the country's first under-sea mining project "unncessarily", as he says it will bring huge community benefits.

"Don't delay" call for PNG seabed mining project (Credit: ABC)

Canada's Nautilus Minerals has a license to mine copper and zinc under the floor of the Bismarck sea, in waters off the New Britain, New Ireland and Manus provinces.

However construction of a seafloor production system remains suspended as the result of a disagreement with the PNG government, which is yet to pay more than 23 million US dollars for its 22 per cent equity in the project.

Firmin Nanol has been talking to the former minister and MP for Pomio in PNG's East New Britain province, Paul Tiensten, who is anxious for the project to go ahead, because he says his constituents need the money it will generate to pay for roads, wharves, jetties and to boost their local economies.

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